Bal Niketan supervisor gets 7-year jail

A 50-year-old supervisor of Bal Niketan, Sector 15, who was on Friday convicted of sexually exploiting minor girls staying in the home for the destitute was awarded seven-year imprisonment by a local court.

A 50-year-old supervisor of Bal Niketan, Sector 15, who was on Friday convicted of sexually exploiting minor girls staying in the home for the destitute was awarded seven-year imprisonment by a local court.

Dismissing all pleas of being falsely implicated, additional district and sessions judge Anshu Shukla awarded supervisor Manish Arora seven years of imprisonment and Rs 1.4 lakh as fine. The UT police had on April 23 last year arrested Arora on charges of sexually exploiting minor girls staying in the destitute home. Arora himself is a father of two girls.

The local court had ordered seven years imprisonment and Rs 1 lakh fine for offences made under Section 10 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and three years imprisonment and Rs 3,000 for offences made under Section 12 of the same Act and Rs 3,000 as fine for offences made under Sections 354-C (sexual harassment). The detailed order in the case is awaited.

Victim’s testimony nailed him

Having been molested for nearly two years by Arora, a Class 10 student, in her statement before the court, had said the supervisor had been harassing her by ‘hugging’ and touching her inappropriately. The victim not only identified the accused, but also relived the entire horror. The victim had told the court that she was an orphan and after being molested for two years decided to put an end to the harassment after the accused tried to lift her shirt.

It was her maternal aunt, who is her guardian, whom she first informed about the harassment. The victim revealed that her aunt gave her the courage to raise her voice, following which she called the child helpline on April 2 last year and a case of sexual harassment was registered against Arora. Besides her, Arora was also accused of molesting seven inmates.

Arora was attached with Bal Niketan for the past two years before his arrest. His wife Nisha had been an inmate at the shelter home for several years. He had been given a residential facility in Bal Niketan. Nisha is an employee of an institute run by the UT social welfare department.